CHESS Stephen Dann

Sunday

Dec 2, 2012 at 6:00 AM

No one seems to understand what this humble writer does in his day job of wholesale/retail merchandising and auditing, so how does one comprehend all the time it took writing 1,900 or so chess columns for this newspaper in the 37 years since 1975? To be honest, it went by so very fast, since I was married and had a family for all but 10 of the years.

Chess is a lifelong hobby to most of the millions who play the game around the world. However, you can gain perspective from interviews, now appearing daily on the Internet, and columns such as this.

Yes, we are going to link you to an interview of Greg Shahade, commissioner of the United State Chess League, at www.uschessleague.com. His 40-minute talk with chess superjournalist Mike Klein appeared Wednesday. The final match for the league championship between Philadelphia and Seattle was yesterday afternoon, and you can view the games there.

All the past seasons are archived on Shahade’s site as well. Klein even asks about the old U.S. chess league from decades ago and Shahade comments on how the current league is different and thriving versus how the other one died. “It’s all about today’s technology,” he said.

Six to eight pages at www.chesscafe.com on each book review? Yes, the site has hundreds of lengthy, critical reviews, but sells most of the books to keep the 14-year-old site free of charge, says owner Mark Donlan of East Harwich. We only see a very limited, if any, conflict of interest here, as the site has many of the top writers who discuss diverse subjects and answer questions from around the world.

Some writers plug their own books, others do the critical reviews that you need to read if you are buying a book (or e-book).

Last weekend’s Burlington Open drew only 40 players despite large prizes, and a strong field at the top, and was won by Alexander Ivanov of Newton. It’s hard to figure why 474 players went to the National Chess Congress in Philadelphia (just two from Massachusetts), which had no one from New England in the 46-player “top” section. View both “Thanksgiving” crosstables at www.uschess.org.

Pick of the week is “choosing” to enter Tuesday’s Holiday Cheer Swiss in Natick ( www.metrowestchess.org) or the Boylston Chess Club’s annual “Open” blitz championship in Somerville ( www.Boylstonchessclub.org), or choose from a wide variety of others at www.masschess.org. Locally, get up to speed at www.chesspals.com or www.wachusettchess.org and monthly Chess Chat programs on demand at www.fatv.org.

Answer to quiz: Browne dashed off fellow GM Pal Benko in 1972 by playing 1. Bxg6. See this and 100 of his best games in “The Stress of Chess and its Infinite Finesse,” including a section on poker, published by www.newinchess.com.